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Exact Metrology Scans Celebrity Soaps

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company and a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, recently used Blue Light Scanning technology to mass produce celebrity-themed soaps. These soaps will be sold by a non-profit for charity.

Blue Light Scanning, a form of structured light scanning technology, operates by using a combination of projector, camera and a lens system. By using a projector, a pattern of light is created and the shadowed, dark areas on the object get measured for data collection. The scanner utilizes optical non-contact technology to capture millions of accurate points in a single fast scan.

Noah Branscum, Exact Metrology Application Engineer for Short Range Scanning, working at the company’s Cincinnati office, completed the soap scan. Steps involved using reference points to help the scanner understand where the carved head is in space. Then, he took a “scan” using the scanner to display the lines of blue light onto the part and had two cameras reading how the lines refracted off the part, producing multiple lines of 3D points in space.”  After going around the part to take several scans, Branscum proceeded to use reference points to stitch each scan together. He then created a .stl file of the 3D scan data by way of a “mesh”, using ATOS Professional software. This software is used to operate the sensor head, process the 3D point cloud data and to edit and post-process the data. Besides polygon mesh generation and editing, additional features include sensor control, sectioning and primitive generation.

Discussing the challenges of scanning these famous faces, Branscum commented the scanner was limited in its “line of sight.” “Things like between the eyes and eyelids can be a bit though, or where there’s very sharp valleys like the lips.” Thankfully, ATOS Professional also helps fill in the holes with feature and character line detection.

Asked about future projects like this, Branscum concluded, “We love challenges and this was a fun experience for us. We look forward to working on equally challenging projects in the future.”


Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, is ISO9001, AS9100 Certified as well as ITAR Registered. 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moline, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, plus affiliated offices throughout the country, is a comprehensive metrology services provider, offering customers 3D and CT scanning, reverse engineering, quality inspection, product development and 2D drawings. The company also provides turnkey metrology solutions, including equipment sales and lease/rental arrangements.   

In-Place Machining Company: On-Site Machining Solutions In-Place, Any Place in the World.

In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Wisconsin, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, California, and Ontario, Canada, is the premier provider of high-precision engineered on-site machining, metrology, and large scale cutting & drilling services for a wide range of renewable energy, aerospace, industrial, and military customers throughout the world.

For more information, please contact: 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company

Dean Solberg
20515 Industry Avenue 
Brookfield, WI 53045 
Local: 262-533-0800
www.exactmetrology.com
deans@exactmetrology.com

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company
Steve Young
11575 Goldcoast Drive   
Cincinnati, OH 45249 
Local: 513-831-6620
Toll Free: 866-722-2600
www.exactmetrology.com
stevey@exactmetrology.com

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Exact Metrology Reverse Engineers an Impact Driver Body

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company and a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, recently reverse engineered an impact driver body.  

Impact Driver Body

Reverse engineering involves digitally deconstructing products to extract design information from them. Thus, users can determine how a part was designed so that it can be recreated. Although the process tends to imply that 3D scanning will be used solely for product design, it can be used to address many other engineering functions. These include product design and manufacturing, facilities maintenance and plant engineering, architectural and civil engineering and custom manufacturing.

While there are many ways to reverse engineer, CT scanning was used due to plastic nature of the impact driver body. CT excels in digitalizing small plastic parts. This impact driver body was scanned using the ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout. This CT scanner digitizes complex parts including the internal geometries at the finest level of detail. Users obtain a complete 3D image for GD&T analysis or nominal-actual comparisons.  The combination of a 3k detector and 225 kV X-ray enables ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout to provide high contrast, high-resolution measurement results and exceptional sharpness of detail. As a result, even the smallest defects in the part become visible and can be analyzed to the last detail. Furthermore, CT scanning quickly captures data and one scan can be used for void analysis, inspection, volume porosity, etc.  A 5-axis kinematics with integrated centering table helps clients optimally position the part in the measuring volume and the control of the device and the metrological evaluation of the data are combined in a single software package, making additional software or intermediate steps redundant.

Reverse engineering process

Greg Groth, the Division Manager at the company’s Brookfield, Wisconsin office explained that the impact driver body although relatively ubiquitous, presents many challenges in the digital modeling process. One of these challenges includes the complex geometry. The smooth outside ergonomics can be difficult to duplicate and interpret with traditional CAD functionality. According to Groth, “We used a combination of hybrid NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) modeling to duplicate the smooth, sculpted surfaces and combined them with traditional mechanical CAD features to create the part shape.”  Another challenge with plastics components is replicating complete parting lines from the original tooling to make the part. These can zig-zag around the part depending on the geometry and are sometimes omitted or cleaned up at the factory. The final challenge involves compensating for warp and shrink during manufacturing, as injection molding is used. Once the formed part starts to cool, it may change its shape. Predicting the movement and compensating it back to the intended design was time consuming.


Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, is ISO9001, AS9100 Certified as well as ITAR Registered. 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moline, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, plus affiliated offices throughout the country, is a comprehensive metrology services provider, offering customers 3D and CT scanning, reverse engineering, quality inspection, product development and 2D drawings. The company also provides turnkey metrology solutions, including equipment sales and lease/rental arrangements.   

In-Place Machining Company: On-Site Machining Solutions In-Place, Any Place in the World.

In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Wisconsin, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, California, and Ontario, Canada, is the premier provider of high-precision engineered on-site machining, metrology, and large scale cutting & drilling services for a wide range of renewable energy, aerospace, industrial, and military customers throughout the world.

For more information, please contact: 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company
Dean Solberg
20515 Industry Avenue 
Brookfield, WI 53045 
Local: 262-533-0800
www.exactmetrology.com
deans@exactmetrology.com

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company
Steve Young
11575 Goldcoast Drive   
Cincinnati, OH 45249 
Local: 513-831-6620
Toll Free: 866-722-2600
www.exactmetrology.com
stevey@exactmetrology.com

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Siemens and TRAK Machine Tools pave the way towards Digitalization for job shops

SINUMERIK ONE digital-native CNC selected as the control of choice for new line of milling and turning production machines

TRAK Machine Tools vertical machining center-series equipped with SINUMERIK ONE is now available

Siemens announced today that its SINUMERIK ONE CNC platform has been selected by TRAK Machine Tools (Southwestern Industries, Inc.) as the control of choice for their new VMC-series milling and TC-series turning machines.  These new machine tools are intended to work in the high-volume, price-sensitive job shop market.

According to company president Steve Pinto, “TRAK wanted to partner with a large, well-established CNC leader with a global footprint for a new line of production machines, aiming
to reach a new level of digitalization — one that reflected that trend in every area of life today.” 

Throughout the process, Siemens employed a consulting approach, selling the value of SINUMERIK CNC and the entire Siemens portfolio of product, software, communications and cloud-based data analytics. The transition to Siemens CNC was made easier, as conventional programming and HMI with SINUMERIK ONE had the same look-and-feel as the TRAK captive control.  Wanting to offer automation in its portfolio, Siemens gave TRAK Machine Tools a wide range of possibilities, with the digital-native CNC.

Siemens is providing user support by ramping up its standard CNC offerings for the job shop market with SINUMERIK ONE, standard PLCs for mills and lathes, custom HMI screens and
it has worked closely TRAK Machine Tools for training.  TRAK staff including application engineers, sales, service and dealers were offered SINUMERIK online web-based training,
in-person training, and time on the machines for benchmarking and test cuts.  As always, Siemens is offering spare parts, 24-hour service and a quick repair turnaround to support its products and TRAK Machine Tools’ dealers.

Digital Twin of the TRAK VMC7si using Create MyVirtual Machine from Siemens

In the future, TRAK Machine Tools also plans to develop a 5-axis and horizontal CNC offering with SINUMERIK ONE.  The company is looking to brand-label a robot to automate their CNC machine with the SINUMERIK Run MyRobot application, integral to the SINUMERIK ONE CNC platform. 

Brian McMinn, head of the Siemens Machine Tool Systems business, observed, “This development marks the first US-based OEM that has accepted the digital-native CNC concept of SINUMERIK ONE.  At every stage of development — from concept to the Digital Twin of the machine known as Create MyVirtual Machine — to the prototype and runout, Siemens has collaborated with TRAK in a very unique way.  The result is an exciting line of CNC machines that will significantly impact the job shop market, almost immediately.  We are proud to partner with this forward-thinking machine tool builder.” 

Steve Pinto concluded, “Having found the right technology partner in Siemens, we can now offer machine technology solutions to help TRAK customers confidently take the next step into digitally-enabled production.” 

Machine tool builders benefit from the Digital Twin by speeding up development and commissioning times to new levels of quality and efficiency

For more information about SINUMERIK ONE, please visit usa.siemens.com/sinumerik-one.

For specific product information and inquiries, send an e-mail to: cnc.marketing.us@siemens.com   

Siemens Digital Industries (DI) is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. Closely collaborating with partners and customers, DI drives the digital transformation in the process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end set of products, solutions and services to integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI’s unique portfolio supports customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its portfolio to integrate cutting-edge future technologies. Siemens Digital Industries has its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, and has around 75,000 employees internationally.

Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed company Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is shaping the world market for passenger and freight services. Due to its majority stakes in the publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. For more than 160 years, the company has innovated and invented technologies to support American industry spanning manufacturing, energy, healthcare and infrastructure. In fiscal 2018, Siemens USA reported revenue of $23.7 billion, including $5.0 billion in exports, and employs approximately 50,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

About TRAK Machine Tools (Southwestern Industries, Inc.)

TRAK Machine Tools is well-known for its ProtoTRAK brand of CNCs and TRAK Machines.  Founded in 1952 as a job shop serving the aerospace industry, it has been manufacturing ProtoTRAK CNCs since 1984 and selling them throughout North American and Europe. TRAK Machine Tools fields direct-to-customer Sales and Service Organizations throughout the United States in many of the areas that have high concentrations of manufacturing.  Where it does not have its own field sales and service, TRAK Machine Tools serves customers via close relationships with independent distributors that share the core values of service to customers and community that has been the key to the enormous popularity of the ProtoTRAK and TRAK brands. The new initiative with SIEMENS will utilize the talents and reach of TRAK Machine Tools beyond the toolroom and into production and automation applications. For more information, please see www.trakmt.com.

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Siemens Partners with Morgan Automation To Supply New “Motion Picture” at Steel Mill

Fully automated non-manned coil handling cranes and coil transfer cars integrated with motion control and communications hardware; zero downtime after six months of operation

Autonomous Coil Yard (ACY) run at major steel company in the Midwest, operated by crane system provided to the mill by Morgan Automation of Alliance, Ohio. Myriad Siemens controls are onboard the system, both hardware and software.

A major U.S. steel mill in Arkansas required an entirely new approach to coil handling for its rolled-to-order production strategy.  Its engineering and materials handling equipment partner, Morgan Automation, devised and implemented a fully-automated, non-manned series of three cranes to work with two coil transfer cars accepting hot coils off the walking beam from the hot mill.  In manufacturing this system solution, Morgan turned to its longtime drives and motion control partner, Siemens, who provided a full complement of drive, plc, safety I/O, power quality meters, PCs, wireless hardware plus communication software and its TIA Portal for commissioning and monitoring on the project.  According to the president of Morgan Automation, Mark Sharamitaro, “The excellent reliability and performance of the Siemens solution on this project was invaluable in helping us achieve complete operational efficiency and zero downtime during the first six months of operation.”

Typical control cabinet houses drives and other hardware to run the crane system.

This greenfield project involved the handling of approximately 1000 coils or 30,000 tons of steel a day at the mill.  A typical coil in this yard is approximately 83” OD x 82” W and weighs 28 tons on average.  As the mill operates on a “made to order” mindset, there is a dual challenge of handling hot coils from the mill and organizing their staging for shipment by truck, rail or barge, with an additional quadrant on the ground for coils heading via the coil transfer cars provided by Morgan to the Pickling Line Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) on the premises.  In the proposed and enclosed coil yard, the walking beam would deliver the coils from the hot mill, then the crane grab would secure the individual coil and place it in the coil transfer car or on a saddle in the appropriate quadrant on the floor.  During low production times, the system would defrag the coil assortment into the proper positions to conserve storage space with full tracking in real time.  Each crane has a thermal imaging camera for temp sensing plus a patent-pending laser positioning system. The comprehensive data tracking is clearly displayed in the mill control room with real time KPI calculations. 

The goals for this new autonomous coil yard (ACY) included the indoor facility to reduce rust and corrosion, improved coil handling to meet the shipping protocols, reduced energy costs by eliminating lift truck handling and reducing physical distancing of coils, plus faster location of the coils on their saddles for crane handling into shipment staging areas.  Critical overall was the safety of the personnel, so a system of nine remote I/O cabinets and 21 safety gates was to be implemented.  Integration of the entire operation was to be handled by the proprietary Morgan CEPHAS logistic management system with a rules-based engine for algorithmic decision-making.  All the information management would be transmitted and handled by mill personnel, using the in-house platform and virtual private network (VPN). 

With those logistics, performance goals and system integration requirements, Morgan began the process of working with the Siemens team to utilize the full range of product and software options for construction of the optimum materials handling, motion control and data management system for the ACY.   According to Mark Sharamitaro, “We were bringing our established CEPHAS warehouse management system to this challenge and seeking to marry it to a single user interface, driven by the rules established by our customer, so there’s essentially a single bucket of data on each coil.”  In that “bucket” are all the physical characteristics and temperature of the coil plus the determined location for placement.  All these data are transmitted through a series of Siemens SINAMICS drive modules, SIMATIC PLCs and the SINEMA network monitoring server, complemented by WinCC V16 supervisory control for monitoring over long distances.  In addition, Siemens offered its SCALANCE wireless suite of ethernet switches and access points to communicate the ring topology and VLAN data to the mill control room personnel.

Morgan technician programs the Siemens PLC to coordinate with the Morgan CEPHAS system for ACY control

The Siemens SIPLUS controller components were used outside of the e-house because of the higher ambient temperatures, as these devices are built for more hostile environments.  Sharamitaro reported that the Morgan team actually tested these components beyond their published ratings, so his team knew they would perform in this application, especially at the moment when the crane would pick up a hot coil and hoist it up near the trolley with the controls onboard. 

Sharamitaro also noted the need for an embedded quality system to identify secondary coils on the floor and determine their transfer path.  As each coil is grabbed, a full battery of sensors, switches, I/O power supply, drives, PLCs and wireless communication sends information from the crane trolley directly to the control house.  The three 190-ton cranes are thus fully synchronized for handling the incoming coils from the hot mill plus the placement of the coils in the transfer cars and staging lines.  The information feeds the CEPHAS system of Morgan Automation, which makes the algorithmic determinations for each coil, based on predetermined parameters set by the mill.  An extremely efficient and reliable system of coil handling is achieved, as a result. 

Mill personnel (as shown in the video link) cannot access any of the four quadrants in the ACY if the lockout devices are engaged. The ground-based safety system literally “asks” the crane for permission before allowing personnel to access the area. 

CEPHAS logistic management system tracks every coil being handled

Leading the project for Siemens were Roland Najbar, business development manager, as well as Rick Ludlow, account manager, both focused in the crane industry.  Najbar comments on this project, “Once we had the full requirements from Morgan, we went to work assembling our motion control and material handling product and software suites to accommodate them.  The need for fully unattended operation and wireless communication in the mill presented some challenges, but our team responded with a combination of time-tested drive, wireless and PLC products as well as some newer offerings such as the SINEMA network monitoring system.”  He further noted that Morgan took the Siemens offerings to new heights of performance, through the integration with CEPHAS, the Morgan logistic management system that performs inventory tracking and routes every coil from the mill to the shipping stage in a time-sensitive and deterministic order of motion. 

The SINAMICS drives interface with the SIMATIC S7-1500 PLCs on this application to seamlessly distribute data and commands through a network of safety I/O, also supplied by the Siemens crane team. 

Najbar also cited the intentional redundancy in the drive safety and production isolation that allowed the cranes to keep working independently but in a highly integrated manner to achieve a non-stop production environment at the mill.  Through the Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500TF PLC, integrated safety is provided, along with the drives in this system.  The open communication protocol on the PLC allows for C++ high-level language applications, such as protocol converters, database connectivity, complex algorithms such as those on the Morgan CEPHAS system plus integration of crane vision systems and laser trackers. 

CEPHAS system provided by Morgan tracks the position and status of every coil in the ACY, divided by grid location for staging of shipments.

To evidence the energy savings, Siemens also provided its PAC3200 power meters that track and record power consumption ongoing in a system and efficiently communicate data over a network protocol.  Another key component in the Siemens solution here was the SINAMICS S120 Smart Line Module for crane applications, which features onboard regenerative drive.  This feature takes the excess motor power from a crane hoist, for example, during descent and feeds it to another component in the system or back to the grid for trackable energy savings to the customer.  Further, this Smart Line Module has particular application in the crane world, as it features a line-commutated infeed that is enhanced by the use of IGBTs that avoid commutation faults typical of thyristor-based rectifiers.

Morgan Automation is sister company to Morgan Engineering and part of the Morgan Industries group of companies, which has served the steel industry for over 150 years.  Morgan designs, engineers, builds, commissions and services its systems.  Morgan Engineering is well known throughout the world as the leading designer of overhead electric traveling cranes, a holder of thousands of patents and designs, and manufacturer of more than 30,000 cranes. In addition to custom overhead cranes for aluminum companies, steel mills, electric power plants, refuse facilities, container handling and general industry, Morgan manufactures equipment such as transfer cars, ladles, scrap buckets, presses, manipulators and large fabrications.  It has been in a close supplier relationship with Siemens Motion Control for over a decade. 

For a full video on this coil handling operation, please click here:

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Exact Metrology Scans Sculpture by Tennessee Artist

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, recently scanned a sculpture by a Memphis, Tennessee artist, Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, a resident at Crosstown Arts in Memphis.

The sculpture is based on a growing sinkhole that has not been fixed and is getting worse. Cornejo was looking for a metrology company that could capture all the details. An artist friend, who had worked with Exact Metrology in the past, recommended the company to her. After contacting Exact Metrology, Sarah Elizabeth sent her sculpture to the company’s Cincinnati, Ohio location for CT scanning. The sculpture was made so that it could be held.

Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo
Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo

CT scanning is an x-ray methodology yielding 3D results by placing an object on a rotational stage between an x-ray tube and an x-ray detector, rotating the object 360 degrees and capturing images at specific intervals. In order to render the 3D x-ray model of the part or object, the images are then reconstructed. CT visualization software allows users to slice through in any direction to produce optimal views and images required for the analysis of the internal configuration.  CT scanning is the only way to get 3D views inside a part and also the only way to get true dimensional data without cutting up or destroying the object. In addition, very little time is required to capture data and troubleshoot parts. Lastly, a single scan can be used for void analysis, inspection, volume, porosity, reverse engineering, etc.

Powered by CT scanning, company personnel were able to send Cornejo the data she needs to scale it to the purposes of a 10 foot sculpture. The sculpture will be installed on the campus of the University of Memphis. The sculpture is immersive, so visitors will be able to walk into it. It is made of hardware cloth, aluminum fencing, epoxy clay, asphalt from Memphis and acrylic paint. The interior has reflective beads.

Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo is an interdisciplinary artist. Her work proposes a futuristic mythology for humanity where humans have evolved into hybrid beings with animals and insects. She is the co-founder and co-curator of BASEMENT, a provisional artist-run space in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is also a 2021 New Public Sculpture Fellow with the Urban Arts Commission in Memphis.

Talking about her collaboration with Exact Metrology, Cornejo said, “I came into this project not having much of an idea of what was possible from a 3-D scan but having a sense of what I was hoping to do with it in order to scale up my sculpture from ten inches to ten feet. Exact Metrology was incredibly patient in taking time to learn about the project, asking what I needed out of the final scan, and then talking to me about their recommendations for how to get the information I was looking for out of my maquette. They took time to trouble shoot the different possibilities, communicated with me along the way with some progress scans, and ultimately got me the result I needed to move forward with the piece.


Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, is ISO9001, AS9100 Certified as well as ITAR Registered. 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moline, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, plus affiliated offices throughout the country, is a comprehensive metrology services provider, offering customers 3D and CT scanning, reverse engineering, quality inspection, product development and 2D drawings. The company also provides turnkey metrology solutions, including equipment sales and lease/rental arrangements.   

For more information, please contact: 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company
Steve Young
11575 Goldcoast Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45249
Local: 513-831-6620
Toll Free: 866-722-2600
www.exactmetrology.com
stevey@exactmetrology.com

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Exact Metrology Scans Vertebrae Plate

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company and a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, scanned a titanium cervical spine locking plate. The scan was completed by Brendon Belongia, an Applications Engineer at the Brookfield, Wisconsin office using the ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout.

The METROTOM 6 scout digitizes complex parts including the internal geometries at the finest level of detail. Users obtain a complete 3D image for GD&T analysis or nominal-actual comparisons. High- resolution images can be captured for precise measuring tasks or detailed inspections of internal structures. Be it shrinkage holes, pores, cracks, sink marks or warpage, all defects or deviations can be detected nondestructively.  Furthermore, the combination of a 3k detector and 225 kV X-ray enables ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout to provide high contrast, high-resolution measurement results and exceptional sharpness of detail. As a result, even the smallest defects in the part become visible and can be analyzed to the last detail. A 5-axis kinematics with integrated centering table helps clients optimally position the part in the measuring volume and the control of the device and the metrological evaluation of the data are combined in a single software package, making additional software or intermediate steps redundant.

With this CT scan, the company demonstrates its ability to scan even the smallest part, such as 4 mm. This vertebrae plate was measured within a 5-micron resolution and used a deviation color map with the GOM Volume Inspect software. The color representation of a point cloud or mesh data set is compared to its intended, nominal CAD model.  This spectrum of colors can tell users how far a value deviates compared to the CAD surfaces. Thus, a weak spot can be detected and can be fixed before a part is used.

The ability of the ZEISS METROTOM 6 scout to see the tinniest defect or detail is especially crucial for medical devices, especially those that go into the human body.


Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, is ISO9001, AS9100 Certified as well as ITAR Registered. 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moline, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, plus affiliated offices throughout the country, is a comprehensive metrology services provider, offering customers 3D and CT scanning, reverse engineering, quality inspection, product development and 2D drawings. The company also provides turnkey metrology solutions, including equipment sales and lease/rental arrangements.   

For more information, please contact:

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company
Steve Young, Vice President
11575 Goldcoast Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45249
Local: 513-831-6620
Toll Free: 866-722-2600
www.exactmetrology.com
stevey@exactmetrology.com

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J.D. Bouwman and Cornelius Kiesel

Zimmermann Designs Custom Milling Machines for Large Moldmaker

For a short video on this collaboration between Zimmermann and Commercial Tool & Die, please see:

Zimmermann Milling Solutions, a leading global high-tech supplier of portal milling machines recently designed three custom milling machines for Commercial Tool & Die (CTD).

CTD is a family-owned and operated business with a long-standing reputation of building exceptional and extremely large plastic injection molds. Markets served include automotive, truck cab bodies, construction equipment and others. They have been successfully using Zimmermann machinery since 2018, so when a need arose for new milling machinery, they went directly to Zimmermann. “We reached out to Zimmermann that we needed a world-class milling machine, because that is what they have,” said Darin Hall, Plant Manager, Commercial Tool & Die.

Machining plastic injection molds has specific requirements and Zimmermann worked with CTD for over three years to design and build machines that met those needs.  “We went the extra mile because we knew that this was what Commercial Tool was looking for and we wanted to be the right partner,” said Cornelius Kiesel, President, Zimmermann. The final result was machines with the unique Zimmermann head design with multiple cutting axis to enable CTD to complete projects by speeding up production and improving accuracy without an excessive number of setups.

When J.D. Bouwman, President, Commercial Tool Group, was asked about the collaboration between the two companies and his favorite thing about the new machines, he replied, “We’ve challenged Zimmermann and they’ve really done a great job of responding to those challenges. Our Zimmermann’s have really helped us bring our machining to the next level. We’re able to achieve unattended numbers that we’ve never had before in the shop and that’s really a testament to our relationship with and the quality of the machines and just the overall build quality of the Zimmermann. It’s just a super, super solid machine.” He added, “I know that if we’re looking for a big machine in the future, we’re definitely going to be turning to Zimmermann.”


For more information, please contact:

ZIMMERMANN INC. 
30587 Century Drive
Wixom, MI 48393
Phone:  248-956-8511
www.zimmermann-inc.com
Ms. Lena Kiesel, Marketing Manager
lena@zimmermann-inc.com

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Zimmermann FZ40c is cutting and spraying away extra metal shavings

Zimmermann partners with two moldmakers to help them go “big”

Four large FZ40c portal millings machines providing significant changes to business strategy at Commercial Tool & Die and Franchino Mold & Engineering in Michigan

Zimmermann FZ40c milling machines enabled both moldmakers to grow their business in their home markets of automotive injection molds and die cast diework, in a unique partnership for each moldmaker

It began in 2017, when Commercial Tool & Die (CTD), a division of Commercial Tool Group in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, contacted Zimmermann at a mold show and IMTS.  This 68-year-old company, founded by the grandfather of the current president, JD Bouwman, was heavily leveraged in automotive and off-highway injection moldmaking, but was seeking to grow into new markets with larger machining capacity.  Meanwhile, over in Lansing, Michigan, Franchino Tool & Engineering was prospering in automotive molds and die cast diework but was seeking to increase their 5-axis machining capability, travel and speed.  The short version of this story is that CTD ended up with three new Zimmermann machines, while Franchino bought the first CTD stock machine from Zimmermann, as it fit their needs quite well, according to Franchino President Mike Heatherington.  

Commercial Tool & Die Looking To Grow

As Plant Manager Darin Hall explains, “We had reached out to Cornelius Kiesel, president of Zimmermann Inc. in Wixom, Michigan, at a mold show and then again at IMTS.  We were impressed with their large CNC 5-axis machines.  CTD had four goals we were seeking to accomplish with our new machine capability.  Namely, we wanted reliability, efficiency to run unattended, rigidity to hold accuracies across a long travel and surface quality to meet our very high standards for automotive products.”  He notes the FZ compact line of Zimmermann appeared to have the essentials they sought at CTD, though some modifications would be needed. 

Company President JD Bouwman elaborates.  “We found in Zimmermann the combination of a great machine with a flexible team who was willing to expand their horizons and ours.  Although the basic version of the FZ40c is an excellent machine, in the end, we made 31 changes that were specific to CTG’s needs, including increased ram, with a goal to purchase three machines for our increased production.”  Bouwman further comments how this enhanced capability would allow CTD to move into new markets and increase share in their home market of automotive.  Today, that process has already yielded positive results, as the company is producing injection molds of much larger size than in the past, thereby opening new segment of automotive, off-highway and commercial building products. 

After the initial investigation, the decision was made to lease an FZ40c to trial the machine.  This portal mill has a work envelope of 197” W x 118” D x 59” H with a feed rate to 2362 ipm.  As the trials proceeded over the one-year lease agreement, according to Darin Hall, “We quickly saw that the machine was very solid and would allow us to strategize differently in our approach to production.”  Concurrently, CTD was realizing their market and manufacturing needs would require some significant changes to the machine, especially the ram height, for use on molds in the off-highway, construction equipment and building products market segments CTD was seeking to penetrate. 

He continues, “We also realized we had a great partner in Cornelius and the team at Zimmermann, both in Wixom and in Germany, where we visited a number of times, as they did here.  These folks were open to our suggestions and worked diligently to affect them.”  Hall notes this lease arrangement was the first in the 68-year history of the company.  “I guess you could say we knew where we wanted to go but weren’t quite sure of the machine design that would get us there.”  The CTD and Zimmermann teams thus began a collaboration that would run nearly three years, culminating in today with three FZ40c gantry mills on the floor at CTD, each with an enhanced rigidity and cast mono-block fork head with unique process cooling for high precision machining, especially on models and molds.  The FZ40c has a base x-axis of 236”, giving CTD the additional size they needed.  Among the changes made to the machine design was an increased ram.

In the end, JD Bouwman concludes, “We had a big machine concept in mind to get us to our goal and the three modified FZU machines were the answer.  Day to day, the machines give us much higher unattended machining numbers, a real testimony to the quality.  Zimmermann has allowed CTD to quote new projects, bigger workpieces and enter new markets, exactly where we wanted to go.”  He expressed a “big thank-you” to Cornelius Kiesel and the Zimmermann team, citing the dedication on both sides over a three-year period resulted in machines “…that simply allowed us to go to a new level as a company and that’s very exciting.”  A future goal between the companies is to build an even bigger machine with increased capacities to reach even higher levels of market participation. 

“Our relationship with Zimmermann is based on true collaboration and we’re mutually assisting the other to accomplish our goals.  That’s as good as a business partnership can be,” concludes Bouwman. 

One additional change to the FZ40c as requested, according to Cornelius Kiesel, and it presented a unique challenge to Zimmermann, he jokes.  “The CTD company color is gold and they requested we paint the machine heads that color for them.  We are machine tool engineers and builders but we took up the challenge and found the right paint for this challenging application.  Looks nice, doesn’t it?” 

Franchino — right place at the right time

That’s an old expression but it’s true in this case.  About an hour east of CTD sits Franchino Mold & Engineering in Lansing, Michigan.  According to company President Mike Hetherington, “Our business is currently about half in automotive injection molds and half in die cast diework for a variety of industries, including construction, stormwater and septic management.  During this recent period in business, with all its challenges, we’ve been flexible in seeking new jobs in various industries and it’s paid off, resulting in a sizable increase in our sales volume.” 

The connection between Franchino and CTD requires a bit of explanation, as Hetherington notes.  “We were on a business trip to Germany, seeking new machine concepts.  We had occasion to tour the Zimmermann factory and, while there, we saw the FZ40C portal milling machine being built for Commercial.  We were looking for that type of machine and had our checklist.  The FZ40C began to check off the boxes and we knew it was the machine for us.  As it happened, we learned the machine was being leased to Commercial down the road from us in the Grand Rapids area and we’d known them for years.  We don’t often directly compete, so we made some contacts and decided to wait for their lease to expire, then we purchased their machine and it was shipped to our facility in Lansing.”  He also mentions several particulars.  The machine needed to work both steel and aluminum molds, be a true 5-axis mill, be able to efficiently rough, semi and finish all in one setup, have an HSK spindle, run 1400 ipm and be up for two shifts reliably.  The FZ40c was found suitable on all these points, according to Hetherington. 

On one job, he notes with a smile, the shop took a roughing cycle from 16 hours to 3 hours, due to the machine’s rigidity, speed and accuracy.  As a bonus, the Heidenhain CNC onboard the Zimmermann machine provided a monitoring capability that enabled the Franchino Machining Supervisor, Chris Cook, to learn the status of the machine remotely. 

Cook cites another example of the company’s use of the Zimmermann FZ40c.  “We run molds for huge septic tanks and the Zimmermann is currently at 3000 hours of run time at 2000 ipm with no issues.”

Hetherington adds the machine purchased from CTD recently ran for two months solid at 90% capacity.  “Looking back, I’d say we were definitely in the right place at the right time, discovering this machine on our trip to Germany.  It’s been a very valuable investment for Franchino, providing reliable production on big workpieces.  It will open up more opportunities for our company in various existing and new markets.”  Hetherington has been president at the company since December, 2020, having gone, as he says, “…from mowing the lawn as a school kid to coming to work here with my engineering degree to engineering manager to VP of operations and now president.”

Franchino Mold & Engineering was founded in Lansing in 1955 by Richard Franchino, whose son and recently retired president Bob began as the first employee, sweeping the floor for $0.25 an hour.  Mike Hetherington is currently working on the construction of an additional 60,000-square foot facility with an 80-ton overhead crane to handle the massive workpieces produced at this shop, which produces molds & dies plus does considerable repair work for its customers nationwide. 


About the company

Zimmermann is based in Swabia (Germany) and is a leading global high-tech supplier of portal milling machines. These are characterized by huge workspaces, substantial machining dynamics and cutting performance. The company, founded in 1933 by Friedrich Zimmermann, now has over 200 employees worldwide. With its product range, our innovative company has one goal above all: to offer the right solution for our customers and thus to be able to guarantee high economic efficiency. “Quality made in Germany and supported locally” is our motto. The company’s special machines are used worldwide in the automotive, aerospace, moldmaking and mechanical engineering sectors.  The company has its North American headquarters in Wixom, Michigan, near Detroit, where it operates a full tech center offering engineering assistance, commissioning, parts and retrofit services, as well as multiple machines for demonstration purposes.  Zimmermann Inc. is headed by President Cornelius Kiesel. 

For more information, please contact:

ZIMMERMANN INC. 
30587 Century Drive
Wixom, MI 48393
Phone:  248-956-8511
www.zimmermann-inc.com
Ms. Lena Kiesel, Marketing Manager
lena@zimmermann-inc.com

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1.) Large scale CMM providing a full dimensional layout report

Exact Metrology Completes First Job with Its CMM in Moline

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company and a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, just used their new Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) at their Moline, IL facility.

Large scale CMM providing a full dimensional layout report

Douglas Machine & Engineering, located in Davenport, Iowa, is a manufacturer of fixtures, broaches, reamers, straighteners, vises, pliers, cutters, burnishers, plugs, spindle nut presses and grinders. They also offer custom manufacturing including welding, EDM machining, fabrication, turning and milling. The company serves the aerospace, defense, construction, agricultural, robotics, food grade packaging and pharmaceutical industries.

Recently, they machined an aluminum plate that will become a locating fixture for the military. Per the military contract, Douglas Machine & Engineering had to provide a full dimensional layout report before shipping the plate. Unable to measure in-house, they discovered that Exact Metrology had this CMM capability in Moline and sent the part there.

The higher accuracy specification of this CNC coordinate measuring machine gives it more than double the effective measuring range in terms of accuracy-guarantee capability. Combining high speed and high acceleration, measuring time is greatly reduced.  Thus, Douglas Machine & Engineering achieved a quick turnaround on their part.

They were very pleased with the results, having used Exact Metrology services in the past. Nick Roman, the President of Douglas Machine & Engineering said, “The communication is always top notch and the end result it always what we look for when doing business with a company.  Exact always goes above and beyond to come on site or get things done when needed.”


Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, is ISO9001, AS9100 Certified as well as ITAR Registered. 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company, with facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moline, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, plus affiliated offices throughout the country, is a comprehensive metrology services provider, offering customers 3D and CT scanning, reverse engineering, quality inspection, product development and 2D drawings. The company also provides turnkey metrology solutions, including equipment sales and lease/rental arrangements.   

For more information, please contact: 

Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company
Dean Solberg
20515 Industry Avenue 
Brookfield, WI 53045 
Local: 262-533-0800
www.exactmetrology.com
deans@exactmetrology.com

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Cerin SpA, a pioneering Italian cutting tool manufacturer is pushing what is possible, exploring exotic nickel alloys to set the future of tool technology

Cerin invested in ANCA technology to take on these challenges and succeed – achieving precision, repeatability and stability in their grinding

Ivan Cuscov, Plant Director started at Cerin SpA ten years ago as a mechanical engineer and today is responsible for production. Ivan said, “Cerin was founded in 1971 by Mr. Cerin and my father joined the company a few years later. We were one of the first Italian companies to work with solid carbide and today serve many industries, from aerospace to construction, shipbuilding, energy and automotive.”

“Half our sales are in Italy and the other half abroad, mainly exporting to Germany but also Russia and Japan, China and England. Our customers choose to work with us because we manufacture a good product. If you ask our customers to say something about CERIN, they will only say, ‘A Cerin tool is a good tool.’ And that’s what I think is what makes us successful.”

“From the beginning we never worked with high speed steel as we had a feeling that solid carbide was the technology of the future and so we tried to make the biggest step possible into the future. It was very challenging at the time as there was limited knowledge on how to use solid carbide. Many people in the industry didn’t know of diamond wheels and thought of diamond as a jewel and not a grinding material!”

“We were a pioneer with many challenges working in unknown territories, but on reflection, I would say that taking on this challenge was key to our success.”

Cerin continues to invest in their pioneering culture to stay ahead of technology change

“At Cerin we try our best to understand our customers production requirements. If the customer has a problem, we look at their machining process — how the machine works, how the workpiece is placed on the machine, and what are the critical issues, vibration and so on. We have even built a Development Center to try new materials and new machine technology.”

“Currently we are looking into the exotic nickel alloys or otherwise called high temperature alloys – which are still niche materials, but we think it’s important to understand given the increasing requirement for energy efficient engine performance. For these applications, high performance requires higher thermal mechanical properties and that is driving tool technology.”

“These materials are particularly critical mainly for heat generation and elastic to plastic transition. Cutting those materials requires specific coating and sometimes a specific combination between solid carbide coatings and dedicated geometries.”

Tool makers must consider the entire development life cycle

“A good tool is the combination of elements. The right geometry and the combination between carbide and coating. Developing a new tool might require a few weeks to many months. The first technical work is designing and testing a basic tool of a certain length and diameter, which fulfills the initial targets. After that you need to organize the whole commercial offer, extend the tests to the rest of the product family, and of course create the stock availability.”

“Over the weekend we mainly produce standard tools and in some areas with unmanned shifts which helps us contain costs, increasing our capacity. Our operators create optimal production conditions, looking at correct machine and grinding wheel set ups. Our attention to detail when setting up processes means we can guarantee quality.”

“Our quality control department is responsible for checking tools during and after production. We have the complete traceability of our production batches and at any time can retrieve design information, even look at the raw materials.”

ANCA technology offers precision, repeatability, and stability – all essential for lights out manufacturing

“In our machine center we have a MX7, MX7 Linear, FX7 Linear, GX7, TX7 and even a TG7.   At the moment we are mainly using ANCA machines for standard and cylindrical endmills and we keep the FX7 and one MX7 linear for mixed production of endmills and drills.”

“Precision, repeatability and stability are two advantages of using ANCA machines and over the years we have found ANCA machines to be thermally stable with a wide range of technology offered. A stable grinding machine is very important for unmanned shifts to keep tolerances and tool dimensions under control. In fact, repeatability means that we have the grinding process under control and can be confident with the quality of the end product we deliver to our customers.”

iGrind is a very good software package mainly because of flexibility and because it allows you to do many different things easily. iGrind is great for cylindrical grinding to profile tools and especially with tool segments where you can split the tool operations as much as you want. We also use ANCA’s
ToolDraft in combination with AutoCAD.“

“We have been recently using iView with a camera for profile tools and it looks promising because it is a good way to control the tolerance of a complex tool all along the profile. If a profile is being controlled at a single point it is too difficult if you are trying to keep a whole profile within a certain tolerance to a few microns. For that you need a specific device and iView is very interesting.”

“Our operators are happy with the Wheel Probe which references the grinding wheel directly on the machine. The benefit using the probe is that you don’t need to waste any time with an external preset and can make your measurements directly on the machine. And you don’t need to mount and dismount the wheel before and after measuring because that of course might change the basic reference a little bit. So you’re going to measure the wheel in the same place where the wheel will work.”


For further information, please contact:

Johanna Boland
Group PR and Communications Manager, ANCA
M: +61 407799779
Johanna.Boland@anca.com

ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.

ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.

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